Beginning of Sorrows: Part 5 Famine -- The Black Horse

And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the
third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo
a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

In the 1970s; working my way through college at a restaurant was an eye opening experience to the abundance of America and the appalling waste of food that occurs every day across the country.  This is not a statement about what is left on plates; but that which was never served!  With the popularity of buffets, those amounts of the 1970s must pale in comparison, today.

We don’t want to believe that anyone in America ever goes hungry; but sadly, some do.  In third world counties and countries that are ravaged by war or natural disaster; famine and starvation are a reality.  Relief organizations try to prevent starvation, but it does occur.  Some countries experience famine and starvation because land that should be growing food crops is growing drugs.

As we continue to look at the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse; we come to the third seal that reveals the third horse which is a black horse with a rider that is holding a pair of balances in his hand.  He is the symbol of severe famine. 

Revelation 6:5-6 KJV And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.  (6)  And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

This End Time event corresponds with the statement that Jesus made in Matthew 24:7 when He predicted there would be famine in the End Time. 

God had given Israel a command to obey His voice and all would be well with them.  Blessings would come as a result of obedience; but that disobedience would bring a curse!   The entire chapter of Leviticus 26 details the blessings that would come from obedience and the curses that would come from disobedience to God.  I believe with all of my heart that the United States is part of the scattered people of Israel who were once taken captive before the birth of our LORD Jesus Christ.  We claim the God of Israel and stamp in God we trust on all of our currency.  We are God’s people as a modern day nation.  We have enjoyed the blessings of the LORD!

THE PROMISE OF BLESSINGS

1. Rain and abundant crops

Leviticus 26:3-4 KJV If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; (4) Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

2. Peace in the land

Leviticus 26:6-8 KJV And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. 

3. Enemies would fall: 100 would put down 10,000

(7)  And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.  (8)  And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.

4. The LORD would be over America with protection/blessings

Leviticus 26:12 KJV And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.

After World War II; America could no longer win a completely decisive war!  Our enemies have never been completely and utterly subdued as in World War II.  It was after that war that the morals of American went on a rampant and widespread decline.  With “Free Love;” (sex outside of and without marriage); the American nuclear family disintegrated and today marriage is being redefined to include same sex couples.  Single parent families have become the norm.  Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are at epidemic proportions.  AIDS has become the plague of promiscuity along with Herpes.  These epidemics stay in the background because America does not want to see her sin!

THE CURSES FOR DISOBEDIENCE

1. Terror, Incurable Diseases; Your enemies will eat your crops

Leviticus 26:15, 16 KJV And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant:  (16)  I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

2. You will even run at the very rumor of attack

Leviticus 26:16-17 CEV I will punish you terribly, and you will be ruined. You will be struck with incurable diseases and with fever that leads to blindness and depression. Your enemies will eat the crops you plant, (17) and I will turn from you and let you be destroyed by your attackers. You will even run at the very rumor of attack.

3. Chastise Seven Times

Leviticus 26:27-31 KJV And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me;  (28)  Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. 

4. You shall eat the flesh of your children

Leviticus 26:29-31 (29) And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.  (30)  And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.  (31)  And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours.

CANNIBALISM: THE RESULT OF GREAT FAMINE

We can’t imagine a famine so great that parents would eat their own children; but it happened in Israel and is recorded in the Bible; and it will happen again to God’s people.

Ezekiel 5:8-10 KJV Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations.  (9)  And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations.  (10)  Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds.

Mother’s ate their young

2 Kings 6:28-29 KJV And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow.  (29)  So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son.

Lamentations 4:10 KJV The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

Lamentations 4:10 CEV Life in the city is so bad that loving mothers have boiled and eaten their own children.

Hunger in Somalia

GRUESOME REALITY AHEAD FOR THE WORLD

These are gruesome thoughts to imagine.  We would all like to believe that it can’t be true and we would like to ignore it.  Unfortunately, believing something not to be true does not make it so and ignoring something does not make it go away. 

America and the world must repent and turn to Jesus Christ!  A time of Great Tribulation is coming upon the whole world.  The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are just one more warning from God!  You can have God’s favor if you turn to Jesus!